The Sea Shell Girl

by Linda Finlay

  CHAPTER 33

  With the weather warming slightly, the store became busy once more. Mrs Winter had turned out to be a good manager and, unlike Mrs Smale, actively encouraged her staff to take the initiative in their dealings with customers. Merry’s respect for the woman grew and she was happy to shadow and follow her lead.

  One day Merry was returning from the dressing room after showing a client some of the ready-made undergarments when she heard Freckles hiss, ‘Blimey oh rimey, cat at twelve o’clock.’

  Looking up, Merry saw Alexandria had entered the store with her usual entourage and was smirking at her like the feline who’d cornered her mouse.

  ‘Ah, Miss Dyer. You will no doubt be pleased to hear the staff were delighted with their Christmas presents. Did you enjoy the festivities?’ she asked, watching Merry closely.

  ‘Yes, thank you. I trust you did too?’ she asked politely.

  ‘Oh indeed, wild parties with good family friends. So wild, in fact, they went on well into this New Year,’ she responded.

  ‘How nice,’ Merry smiled, refusing to rise to the woman’s bait. She fingered the silver necklace beneath her collar and forced her lips wider. ‘How may I help you today? Perhaps you would care to see our latest stock?’

  ‘Goodness, as I’ve previously mentioned, I wouldn’t purchase anything here for myself. Only fine couture will do for me, darling. That’s how naval officers expect their ladies to dress,’ she said, emphasizing the word ‘ladies’. ‘No, etiquette decreed I come and thank you for your shop assistant’s advice.’

  ‘Miss Dyer is renowned for her expert service, Miss Courtland, and you might be interested to know she is now the department’s trainee supervisor,’ Mrs Winter, who had been watching the exchange, intervened.

  ‘Remarkable,’ Alexandria sneered before turning on her heel and marching from the store.

  ‘Thank you, Mrs Winter,’ Merry whispered.

  ‘It doesn’t do any harm to point these things out sometimes. Remember, Merry, it is manners that make a lady, rather than mere breeding. Now you will be pleased to know it’s time for luncheon,’ she said, grinning as she turned away. Merry stared after her in surprise, not for the first time amazed at the woman’s perception.

  ‘Blimey oh rimey, what was that all about?’ Freckles asked as they hurried towards the staff-room. ‘That snooty woman’s got it in for you and no misake.’

  ‘She’s one of Carey’s neighbours,’ Merry sighed.

  ‘And a nasty one at that,’ Prunella said. ‘I reckon she’s got her sights firmly set on your lieutenant, Merry.’

  ‘Ah, but will he look in her direction?’ Freckles responded, seeing her friend’s woeful expression. ‘When are you next seeing the dashing lieutenant?’

  ‘Not for another two weeks,’ Merry sighed.

  ‘Why don’t we sort some material and make you a dress?’ Freckles suggested. ‘We could make something that’ll pop his eyes out.’

  Merry laughed. Her friend was better than any tonic from a quack.

  ‘Hey, Joanie, what’s the best way to keep a man’s attention?’ Freckles asked as the housekeeper bustled in with their luncheon.

  ‘Keep him happy, well fed, warm in … well, you know what I mean,’ Joanie chortled. ‘Cors that sort of thing’s only for when you’re wed,’ she added.

  ‘Cors, Joanie,’ Freckles laughed.

  Feeling better after a bowl of Joanie’s vegetable broth and her friend’s banter, Merry hurried back down the corridor.

  ‘Ah, Miss Dyer,’ Mr Fairbright said, leaning over the banister. ‘A word, if you please.’

  Merry’s heart sank. Had Alexandria made a complaint against her?

  ‘Yes, Mr Fairbright?’ she asked, looking anxiously at her employer.

  ‘I have just returned from Porthsallos. Your mother seemed anxious about your welfare and although I reassured her you were doing very well, she insisted I give you this.’ He handed her a note. ‘I understand she would welcome a reply so if you wish to pen one I will take it with me when I return next month. I got the impression it was more than just parental concern about you not being able to get home for Christmas, so if there is anything I can assist with, then please feel free to come and see me.’

  ‘Thank you, Mr Fairbright,’ Merry said. Whatever could her mother be worrying about, she wondered, as she hurried back to the shop floor.

  ‘Miss Dyer, perhaps you could tidy the dressing room,’ Mrs Winter said as she took her her position behind the counter. ‘I had occasion to assist a lady during her luncheon break and it needs refreshing.’

  ‘Of course, Mrs Winter,’ she replied. As she set about her task, the paper crackling in her pocket reminded her of her mother’s note. Quickly, she removed it from its envelope and scanned the contents.

  Dearest Merry,

  I hope this letter finds you well. We are both well and missed you at Christmas. Nicco has kindly been keeping an eye on you on his regular trips to Plymouth. As you know, it is our express hope that you and he will settle down together. He adores you and does have good prospects. He has, however, expressed his concern about a gentleman who is paying you a lot of attention. I request you bring this man home soonest so that your grandmother and I can satisfy our concerns that his intentions are honourable.

  Please send a reply back via Mr Fairbright as to when we can expect you and this gentleman friend to pay us a visit.

  Your concerned Mother,

  Karenza

  Merry screwed up the note and threw it across the room. That Nicco had been keeping an eye on her was bad enough, but reporting her movements back to her mother was unforgivable. She wasn’t a child, after all. She was making her own way in the world as she’d always said she would. Should she tell Carey her mother wanted to see him? No, it was too soon. She’d wait and see how their relationship developed before she mentioned it.

  When they’d been out a couple of times more and Merry was confident their rapport had been fully restored, she casually mentioned her mother would like to meet him. To her surprise, Carey thought it a good idea.

  Now, on a blustery morning, they were making their way to Porthsallos. Merry was dressed in her pink blouse with a blue skirt Prunella had loaned her. It matched the shawl and gloves Grozen and her mother had made for her and she felt smart but not overdressed. As she looked out at the familiar scenery, excitement bubbled inside her. Soon she would be home, although she couldn’t help wondering how Carey would react to their tiny fisherman’s cottage.

  ‘Do you think I’m dressed smartly enough to meet your family?’ he asked, breaking into her thoughts. Merry looked at his sharply tailored coat, trousers and highly polished shoes, and laughed.

  ‘You look good enough to me.’

  ‘I was thinking you look rather fetching, too, in your blue shawl, and I see the pattern matches the band on your hat,’ he grinned, pointing to the one she’d knitted. ‘They could have been made by the same person, couldn’t they?’

  Merry laughed. ‘That proves how little you know about women and their knitting. Each one can spot their own garments at a thousand paces – well, ten, at least,’ she amended.

  ‘Fascinating,’ he smiled. ‘You mentioned we would need to leave the carriage at the top of the village, and the wind is blowing a hooley so I’ve brought my naval cap. I mean, I don’t want you to be ashamed of me.’

  She stared at him in amazement. ‘And I’ve been worrying about the state of our tiny cottage and whether Grozen will be her usual outspoken self,’ she admitted.

  He chuckled. ‘Is that where you get it from? I love a woman who says what she thinks.’

  ‘Which reminds me, your friend Alexandria came into the store recently. She didn’t wish to buy anything; in fact, she turned up her nose at our stock. Apparently etiquette decreed she thank me for advising her on what to buy her staff. However, she seemed more interested in telling me about the wild parties you all have.’

  He glanced quickly away. ‘You
don’t want to worry about Venus,’ he muttered.

  ‘Venus?’

  ‘After the plant the Venus flytrap, only according to my dear sister she ensnares men rather than flies. I understand from Saphira that I was to be her next victim.’

  ‘Saphira has returned from Scotland?’

  Carey nodded, his face brightening at once. ‘Yes, thank heavens. It was she who discovered why you didn’t get the message after I’d been summoned back to base.’

  ‘Alexandria?’ she guessed.

  ‘The very same. Apparently she called at the house after I’d left. The housekeeper told her I’d been recalled and that I’d left a note to be delivered to you at Didcot and Fairbright. She said she was going there that very day and offered to take it, only …’

  ‘She didn’t,’ Merry sighed.

  ‘Saphira was furious when she found out her friend had almost come between us. Told her she was never to call upon us again.’

  ‘Oh goodness, and there was me thinking you hadn’t come in to see me because you’d had second thoughts or found someone more in your class,’ she sighed.

  ‘Class!’ he spat. ‘Honestly, Merryn, you’re adorable, charming and competent, and really should have more faith in yourself,’ he said, smiling at her in the way that made her spine tingle.

  Just as they were approaching the turning for the village, they passed another carriage. She caught a fleeting glimpse of Lady Sutherland, who, to Merry’s surprise, waved.

  ‘Lady Sutherland lives on the hill opposite our cottage,’ Merry began, then saw Carey was waving back.

  ‘Oh, is that where she lives?’ he murmured.

  ‘You know her?’ Merry asked. He nodded.

  ‘She was a guest at a naval function not long ago. A lovely lady, widowed young, but now betrothed to the Earl of Tavy, I believe.’

  ‘Oh,’ she gasped as the carriage pulled to a halt. ‘Well, here we are.’ She watched as he reached up and carefully pulled a modest yet beautiful tussie-mussie from the rack.

  ‘Some flowers for your mother,’ he explained. She looked at the colourful mixture of japonica and rose daphne wrapped in a doily and bound with a pink satin ribbon, and smiled. Then she spotted the single daylily and clapped her hands in delight. Prunella had lent her the book on the language of flowers and she saw his message to be ‘sincerity and a desire to please’ with the daylily representing the Chinese emblem for ‘mother’.

  ‘They’re beautiful. She’ll love them,’ Merry exclaimed, vowing to explain to her mother exactly what they meant.

  ‘Well, if she’s half as beautiful as her daughter then it will have been worth bribing Uncle Fergus to pick his best blooms,’ he murmured.

  ‘He couldn’t pick me, though, ’cos according to you I am a mere wayside flower,’ she sighed, recollecting his earlier comparison with that wonderful neighbour of his.

  He frowned for a moment. ‘But I alikened you to bluebells because of your beautiful eyes and snowdrops because they match the sheen of your hair,’ he protested.

  ‘Ah, but I seem to remember you saying Alexandria was a hothouse bloom, though,’ she said, wagging her finger at him.

  ‘Yes, because she’s temperamental and takes a lot of looking after,’ he declared.

  ‘Really?’ she said, trying to sound casual, although her spirits had lifted considerably. Now he was gazing at her so warmly her heart flipped and flapped like a fish on a line.

  ‘Come on,’ she whispered. ‘Mother will be waiting.’ Side by side they walked down the hill.

  ‘It’s very quiet, isn’t it?’ Carey commented, staring around the deserted lane.

  ‘The women will be cooking their dinners whilst the men sup their pints in the alehouse.’

  ‘On the Sabbath?’ he asked.

  Merry smiled at his surprised expression. ‘Lavis invites them to drop in so it’s not classed as trading. Of course, the men will have to settle their dues tomorrow.’ She stared at the fishing boats, breathing in the familiar smells of salt, fish and tar. ‘There’s nothing like the smell of the sea, is there?’ she sighed, pulling her shawl tighter as a gust of wind funnelled up from the harbour.

  ‘Goodness, anyone would think you’d been living far inland these past months,’ he teased. She smiled and their eyes locked. Heart racing, she forced herself to look away and pointed up to the imposing granite house that looked down over the harbour.

  ‘That’s Lady Sutherland’s house,’ she said. ‘When I was young, I used to dream of living there, wearing elegant clothes and driving in a fancy carriage.’

  ‘Well, you’ve achieved two out of three so that’s not bad, is it?’ he said, gazing at her meaningfully until she felt heat searing her cheeks.

  ‘Oh, look, we’ve reached the warren,’ she gabbled, leading the way through the maze of cobbled lanes until they came to the Dyers’ cottage. She stood on the step dithering uncertainly. Should she knock or just go in?

  CHAPTER 34

  ‘Come on in, our Merry. Since when did we stand on ceremony?’

  As her grandmother’s strident voice carried through the open window, Merry laughed. She might have known the old woman would be watching for them. Before she could lift the latch, her mother had opened the door and enfolded her in a tight hug.

  ‘Welcome home, Merry. It’s been too long, but my, you’re looking good.’

  ‘It must be this lovely shawl you made me, Mother. Thank you so much. I’m thrilled with it. It’s really warm, and I made this to match as well,’ she said, pointing to her hat.

  Her mother smiled, then turned to Carey and gave him an appraising look.

  ‘You must be the friend we’ve heard about.’

  ‘It’s good to meet you, Mrs Dyer. My name is Carey Meredith, but please call me Carey,’ he said, holding out the posy.

  Karenza paled as she stared down at the flowers.

  ‘It’s a tussie-mussie, Mother. Carey chose the flowers especially. They all mean something, you see,’ Merry explained.

  ‘Yes, I know,’ Karenza whispered, then seemed to make an effort to pull herself together. ‘They are beautiful, thank you, Carey. Welcome to our humble home.’ As she stood aside to let them pass, Merry blinked. She’d quite forgotten how gloomy it was inside the tiny cottage.

  ‘That’s it; keep our visitor to yourself, why don’t you? Haven’t I taught you better manners than that, our Karenza?’

  Merry smiled at Carey, who had removed his cap and tucked it under his arm.

  ‘Come and meet Grozen,’ she whispered, leading him over to where her grandmother was sitting in her customary chair beside the fire. ‘This is Carey, Grozen,’ she said, bending and kissing the woman’s cheek.

  ‘I’m pleased to meet you, Mrs Dyer, and what a welcoming blaze to greet us on this blustery day.’

  The older woman looked at Carey for a long moment. ‘Like a wood fire, do you?’

  ‘Indeed I do, Mrs Dyer.’

  ‘Better than that dirty coal?’ she enquired, staring at him with her birdlike eyes.

  He nodded. ‘I think the crackling noise and smell of wood makes a place feel homely, and you do have a lovely home here, if you don’t mind me saying,’ he said, glancing around the room. Merry looked at him in surprise.

  ‘So what improvements would you make, young man?’

  ‘Grozen,’ Merry gasped, darting Carey an apologetic look.

  He smiled. ‘Well, I’m surprised you don’t have a picture of yourself adorning the wall. A fine woman such as yourself should be portrayed for all to see.’ The room was silent apart from the spit and hiss of the fire. Then, to Merry’s amazement, the older woman burst out laughing.

  ‘You’ll do. Now, Karenza, where’s our tea? I’m right parched and I’m sure these young people are too after their travels. Now, Merryn, come and tell your old grandmother what you’ve been up to,’ she added, patting the stool beside her. ‘You can take that chair, young man,’ she said, pointing to the one furthest from the fire. Merry stared
at the woman, knowing she was testing him.

  ‘Thank you, Mrs Dyer, but first may I help you with the tea?’ he asked, turning to Karenza.

  ‘Goodness, whatever next?’ the old woman muttered. ‘Sit yourself down.’

  Not in the least bit put out, Carey smiled at Merry, then did as he’d been told.

  ‘I see you’re wearing the shawl your mother made.’

  ‘I love it, and the matching gloves are cosy. Thank you so much, Grozen. I was so sorry not to be able to make it home for Christmas but I’ve brought your presents with me.’

  ‘It was a right shame about that snow; deepest they’ve ever had round these parts and that’s saying something. Still, couldn’t be helped. We’ll open our presents later, shall we? I’m starving,’ she said, looking pointedly at Karenza, who was pouring their tea. ‘Had to look at that all morning, wasn’t even allowed a tiny taster,’ she moaned, pointing to the jam sponge cake on the table.

  ‘I would have made the traditional hevva cake for you, but with the pilchards not in yet it would have been unlucky,’ Karenza said, passing Carey a slice.

  ‘Just as well, or you’d have had that blessed stargazy pie for luncheon. All them eyes staring puts a person off her food,’ Grozen grumbled.

  Carey frowned a question at Merry.

  ‘It’s a fish pie with pilchards’ heads peering through the top crust,’ she explained.

  ‘Well, sponge cake is my favourite and this is so light,’ he added, lifting it from the plate and taking a bite. ‘You bake an exceedingly fine cake, Mrs Dyer.’

  Karenza smiled and seemed to relax at last.

  They spent the next hour happily catching up. Carey seemed content to sit and listen as Merry told her mother and Grozen about her life at the store.

  ‘So now you are a fully fledged sales assistant and trainee supervisor,’ Karenza beamed. ‘Well done, Merry. I know how hard you must have worked to achieve that in such a short space of time. Mr Fairbright is very good at keeping us informed of your progress but it is lovely to have you sitting here telling us for yourself.’